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Wednesday, December 30, 2015

NEW YEAR'S GRAND OPENING. Following the disastrous fire of Feb.1883, two new brick buildings were built on the west side of Bradford's Main Street. On Dec. 31, 1883 a grand opening was held to dedicate the new Stevens Block as it join the Union Block to its north. Over the years, this building was the home to a number of stores and offices. Today, the Stevens Block houses a restaurant, book store and forist/antique store.

ADVICE A CENTURY OLD. This illustration appeared in The United Opinion on Dec. 31, 1905. As with then, breaking resolutions is just as common today as making them. Like blown bubbles they are usually temporary, with their likelihood of lasting fraught with temptation and subsequent failure. The editor of the Opinion suggested:"New Year's resolutions are better never made than never kept."

NEW YEAR'S BABY: Since ancient times, newborns have represented the birth of the new year. They are often pictured opposite an aged man, representative of Father Time, making ready his exit.

From 1929 to 1976 Guy Lombardo and The Royal Canadians were synonymous with New Year's Eve. First on the radio and then on television he led the nation in the countdown to midnight.

With 2016 on the horizon, plans for New Year’s celebrations may already
be made.As with local residents in the
past, those plans probably vary widely.This column describes New Year’s observances in earlier decades. It only
reviews the celebration of the western Christian version, one of many observed
around the world.

Until 1582 the official calendar in Europe was the Julian calendar with
each year beginning in March. That year
the Gregorian calendar was introduced with the year ending on December 31. This
new and more accurate calendar was gradually accepted in most European nations
and in 1752 it became the official calendar for England and its colonies.

Prior to its official acceptance, most New Englanders followed the
practice of celebrating the year’s end right after Christmas. The observance of
New Year’s had a medieval tradition linked with the “riotous and hedonistic” character
of the Festival of Fools.

By the 16th century this practice had
generally died out In England young men followed an ancient practice of apple
howling or wassailing. Depending on the alcoholic content of the bowl, this
practice undoubtedly led to some degree of youthful celebration.

Puritan ministers thought New Year’s Day to be unchristian and unsavory,
a Pagan relic in worshipof the Roman
god Janus. To church leaders, prayer was
the only accepted activity. Sermons called upon all to review the “follies and
crimes which have tempted them during the year past.”

Many English and Scottish settlers had traditions that made New Year’s
celebrations second only to Christmas. Ryegate’s Scottish founders kept New
Year’s Day with feasting and home coming. This was similar to the custom of
paying New Year’s calls and open houses practiced by the Dutch of New York.
Special refreshments were served. These customs spread throughout the young
country.

By the 1830s, New England New Year’s Day observances were established, setting a pattern for the rest of the century.
While many went about their normal activities, they may have spent some time in
solemn reflection and prayer.

Card parties, social visiting and sleigh rides were held as well as
“frolics and dances.” New Year’s cards equaled Christmas ones and advertisements
for gifts included both end-of-year holidays.

On Jan. 2, 1875, the Bradford
Opinion announced that a New Year’s Dance was to be held that week at West
Fairlee’s Whitney Hall, and “a good time is expected.”

In the next quarter
century, a number of local holiday events were held. In 1889, Corinth held a
traditional rifle match and, in 1892, held a “huge New Year’s Ball.” Bradford’s
new Stevens Block celebrated a grand opening on Dec. 31, 1883. By 1889 most
states, with the exception of New Hampshire, observed Jan. 1st as a
legal holiday.

Bad weather did not prevent Lyme patrons from attending the 1896
holiday dance at the Union Hotel or 30 couples from attending a ball and supper
at the school house in East Corinth. Newspapers reported that “phenomenal
weather attended New Year’s day…the damage to roads and bridges have been
large, and larger to fences, fields and forests.” Bad weather at that time of
year was not uncommon. In 1899, New Year’s “came in rough and cold.”

One of the roughest New Year’s was in 1917-18 when the temperature remained
below minus 9 degrees for five consecutive days.That cold combined with fuel shortages closed
churches and schools.A party held by
Bradford’s Charity Lodge was impacted by the cold weather and the late arrival
of the train bearing the orchestra.

Reports of New Year’s family reunions, weddings, anniversary
observances and open houses were reported regularly in local newspapers. Parish
parties competed with private card parties, concerts and organizational
gatherings.

Jan. 1, 1900 was observed by many as the beginning of the new century,
despite scoffs from purists who said the century did not end until Dec. 31,
1900. There was “evidence of confused minds.” But whenever the actual day was
suppose to be celebrated, the new century
was greeted with high expectations.

A
“Hail and Farewell” editorial appeared in the Dec. 28, 1900 edition of
Brattleboro’s Vermont Phoenix: “The
hundred years to come will bring to the world better things and reveal to
human-kind greater wonders and possibilities than any century that has gone
before.”

In the new century, locals were as likely to attend a baked bean and
oyster supper or church service as a dance or party. For the first time and
with little fanfare, New Hampshire observed New Year’s Day as a legal holiday
in 1910. It was suggested that New Hampshire residents might just as well
“erase it from the calendar” as it “will never amount to much.”

In the years before World War I, local papers did not mention the events
in Times Squarebut noted the new Rose
Parade. “Not equal to a Vermont pageant” was one comment. With Jack Frost as a
“master decorator”, another editor wrote, “We have a mid-winter decoration that
will eclipse anything in the floral line.”

New Year observances in the 1920s continued to show the differences
between activities. Parsonage
receptions, church services and Methodist watch-night events offer alternatives
to parties and dances. In 1922, Newbury High School held a New Year’s Ball and
Mardi Gras Party complete with Klark’s Orchestra and participants partied
“until the wee small hours.” A ball was held in Bradford annually. In 1928
Fairlee’s holiday dance featured the
Chase Orchestra from Middlesex.

It is difficult to determine whether prohibition affected these
non-church events. While illegal alcohol was readily available, many local
residents nevertheless did not drink
alcohol. Probably New Year’s 1934 was different from the previous 14 as
Prohibition came to an end on Dec. 5, 1933. It is also difficult to determine
whether the Great Depression affected New Year’s celebrations.

Local newspaper reports describe the same types of secular and
religious observances as in previous decades, with the addition of special
motion picture shows. An annual newspaper feature was a national news “year in
review” column.

New Year’s Day falling on Sunday did have an impact.The United
Opinion of Dec. 30, 1932 predicted the usual dances and parties, but “the
New Year’s revelry will be somewhat depressed at midnight with the advent of
Sunday, but New Year’s activities will, in many instances, be resumed Monday.”

If that was not depressing enough, the advent of war abroad was
reflected in New Year’s messages.In
Dec. 1938 the local paper announced that the Newbury Men’s Club would hold a
basket supper followed by dancing. It also editorialized: “Let’s hope the new
year will not see the world embroiled in war.”

But war came anyway and New Year’s events were more likely to be held
with service members attending in uniform or absent altogether.Despite gas rationing, festivities, including
the Vershire town dance featuring the Down Easterners and the Piermont
Christmas Club party at the town hall, were well attended.

New Year’s editorials during the period from 1940-1945 commented on the
“misery in the world” followed by “cautious greetings,” and finally “glimmers
of hope” for the new year. Bradford’sGrace Methodist Churchcontinued
to hold the annual watch-night service or couples could go for supper and
dancing at the Bradford Inn for $1.25 per person.

The end of the war brought renewed interest in public events to
celebrate the holiday. In 1946 and 1947, the East Corinth Firemen held their
annual dance at the Community Hall.December 31, 1948 featured many activities including a Legion Dance and
Odd Fellows Party in Bradford, a dance at Newbury, two square dance parties in
Fairlee, dancing at Bedell’s Barn in Orford and numerous private home parties
and church services.

The half-century mark, Jan. 1, 1950, was Sunday and the local Bradford
churches held a joint service, but “for those with a slightly more worldly
inclination” there was a supper-dance at the Bradford Inn. The Bradford Legion
promised that on the Monday holiday “an even better time than you had last
year.” That better time was followed up on the following December 31st
with a Legion sponsored burlesque show at the Bradford Theatre.

In the 1950’s, Bedell’s Barn introduced their New Year’s Dawn Dance
beginning at midnight and ending at 4 am. In 1954 the Fairlee VFW held a
members’ event at their new headquarters and the East Corinth Firemen again
held their holiday dance. It was announced that “bars have been given
permission by the State Liquor Board to remain open until 3 a.m.”

On New Year’s Eve 1955 one could
select from a dance in West Topsham featuring Don’s Rythamaires, a Roller Skating Party at
Pineland in Wells River and a midnight showing of “Ain’t Misbehavin’”at the Bradford Theatre.

During the decades to follow, the pattern of celebrations reflected changing
economic and social conditions. New venues like the 111 Club and the Lake Morey
Resort replaced old ones. New bands led by Chub Benjamin and Bob Hanley
emerged. As World War II veterans aged, their sponsorships of holiday dances were
replaced by younger National Guard Enlisted Men’s Clubs.

Many restaurants began to feature New Year’s suppers for early diners
or brunch buffets on New Year’s Day. Guy Lombardo was replaced by Dick Clark. A
new century replaced the old but without the predicted Y2K implosion.

While there were fewer church services to commemorate the New Year,
First Night celebrations in urban centers offered family-centered non-alcoholic
events. Law-enforcement efforts reduced the number of impaired drivers during
the high risk holiday season. Many just stayed home and watched holiday shows
on television, celebrated with friends in a low-key fashion or just went to bed
early and avoided the hoopla, the champagne toast and the singing of “Auld Lang
Syne” altogether. Some cut off celebrations early as their New Year’s plans
included climbing Mt. Moosilauke. Many had plans that included a New Year's Day of watching football bowls or participating in outdoor activities.

What hasn’t changed in the time since early days is the recognition
that the end of the year is a time for reflection. January is named for the
two-faced Roman god Janus, one face looking to the past and the other to the
future. This is more than a day to break out a fresh calendar.

In 1821 Charles
Lamb suggested that New Year’s is “the nativity of our common Adam… the one of
two birthdays each person has annually.” In the 1880’s Henry Ward Beecher
wrote:“Every man should be born again
on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in
the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances.”

For many it is the time to turn over a new leaf. They might follow the
advice of the 1802 satirical poem “New Year’s Gift or Naughty Folks Reformed”
and review “the folly and crimes which have tempted us within the year.” Rev.
Joseph Washburn advised in an 1805 New Year’s sermon that “We stand at the
close of one year, and the commence of another. A year…by which dying men
measure out the short and uncertain period of the existence allotted them, in
the present probationary state.”

That being said, it is common to use the occasion for reflection. For
many it means being resolved to lose the weight holiday feasting brought on or
perhaps giving up smoking or some other habit that bothers.

Breaking resolutions is just as common as making them. Some resolve
that the only resolution they will make is to make no resolutions, especially
as the likelihood of success is so fraught with temptation and subsequent
failure. In 1907 the editor of The United
Opinion suggested: “New Year’s resolutions are better never made than never
kept.”

Advice on the subject is plentiful and appeared annually in advice
columns, editorials, television talk shows and sermons. Perhaps for the
resolution makers the best advice was given in an editorial in the Dec. 27,
1922 Caledonian-Record: “New Year’s is a good time to cherish new purposes, but
in forming them one must expect that they will have to be renewed and confirmed
with equal energy at very frequent intervals.”

Friday, December 4, 2015

Most of today's Sunday pastimes were illegal in 19th century VT and NH. Read how the area was affected by "blue laws."

VOLUNTARY NOT REQUIRED.Until the 1980s, some businesses in Vermont were required to close on Sunday.Currently that closure is voluntary, with most professional offices and some retail outlets following the voluntary practice

NOT JUST FOR CHILDREN. Around 1915 this group of young men
gathered for Rev. F. A. Woodworth’s Sunday School at the Grace Methodist Church
in Bradford.As activities such as
baseball were prohibited, Sunday School was one of the few Sabbath social
events open to them.(Bradford
Historical Society)

NO WAY TO SPEND
SUNDAY. In the late 19th century, Sabbath protection groups decried
the spead of Sunday newspapers. They charged that these newspapers “were the
most potent influence in our midst for the destruction of the Lord’s Day as a
day of rest and worship.”

“No person shall do any work, business or labor of his
secular calling, to the disturbance of others, on the first day of the week,
commonly called the Lord’s Day, except works of necessity and mercy…”19th Century New Hampshire law

According to the Bible, on the seventh day God rested from His
work of creation. The Ten Commandments calls for honoring that day as the
Sabbath.Since ancient times this habit
of rest from labor one day each week has been encouraged, if not routinely practiced.
This article describes this practice in Vermont and New Hampshire beginning
with Colonial times.

Puritan New England strictly enforced the Sabbath.Many activities encouraged on other days of
the week were punishable if performed on Sunday. There was mandatory attendance
at Sabbath services.Well-established
rules in Massachusetts and Connecticut were codified in English law in 1676
requiring both piety and a prohibition on “worldly labour” on Sundays
throughout the colonies.

These rules were so strict that they were referred to as
“blue laws.” The term “blue” had a double meaning of strictness and
reproach.It was once thought that the
term came from the blue paper upon which the laws were printed, but evidence for
this is lacking. An exaggerated and denigrating list of
Connecticut “blue laws” published in 1781 by Rev. Samuel Peters, a relative of
Bradford’s historic Peters family, was also false.

Local communities enforced laws regulating Sunday activities
“for the common good.” Tythingmen were appointed to enforce these laws. Their
practice of detaining those who sought to violate the law against traveling on
Sunday earned them the title of “grab-men.” Punishments ranged from ostracizing
to fines and even whippings.

Most residents did as much work as they could on Friday and
Saturday in preparation for the Sabbath.Food was prepared and left warm in the oven. In Newbury, one woman wound
her clocks every Saturday to avoid an unnecessary task on Sunday. With
attendance enforced, Sunday was filled with one or even two long church
services.

In Orford, in 1804, John Mann Jr. was called before the
church leaders for “desecrating the Sabbath with profane language.“ A week
later he was again cited for “Sabbath-breakingacts” including driving hogs to Boston on Sunday. While Mann was
forgiven, the Orford resident who spent a Sunday wandering the local woods
rather than attending church was not.Local legend relates that he was torn apart by bears and the mountain
where the carnage took place was renamed “Sunday Mountain as a solemn warning
against all Sunday roving.”

These are probably not the only examples of people who did not attend Sabbath services.In the face of the hardships of frontier
life, there were undoubtedly backsliders and those who broke regulations. But
most residents kept the Sabbath to some degree.

Nineteenth century Vermont and New Hampshire experienced the
conflict between religious traditions and changes in society. Religious
reformers sought to continue to impose strict behavior codes on Sunday
activities.The growing temperance
movement added bans on alcohol and tobacco at Sunday events.

The practice of having the post office open briefly on
Sunday came under attack. In 1829 inhabitants of North Haverhill submitted a
petition to Congress calling for an end to Sabbath postal openings so “that the
free, enlightened, religious people, may rest from their labors, as the Lord of
the Sabbath HATH COMMANDED.”

By the 1840s there was an organized effort to protect the
Sabbath against “raucous amusement and gratuitous commerce.”Demands for heightened enforcement led to the
passage of tougher laws. As railroads began to permeate the region, there were
calls for prohibition on Sunday rail traffic.In 1848, Vermont’s new law prohibiting all work on Sunday other than
that of “necessity and mercy.“

That same year, Vermont-born attorney Thaddeus Stevens
presented a case for minority rights and for the separation of church and state
in an unsuccessful Pennsylvania court case. As the law did not mandate
compulsory religious observance, the court viewed it as a “day of rest” rule
and not in violation of the church-state prohibition. That ruling set the stage
for other court cases nationwide.

Immigration in the period after the Civil War continued to
test the dominance of the Protestant establishment. Sunday was the lone break
in the six-day work week and many wanted to use it for activities other than
attending religious services.Additionally, Jews and Seventh Day Baptists did not recognize Sunday as
the true Sabbath.

Sabbath protection groups worked to combat the “notoriously
frequent violations” of the Sunday closing laws by saloonkeepers. Opposing them
were organizations against Sunday laws including labor unions, immigrant groups
and civil rights advocates.

In 1880, Vermont
reaffirmed its ban on Sunday activities, with limits ranging from business
openings to hunting. Groups threatened a
nation-wide boycott of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair unless it closed on
Sundays.

They also raised questions
about the new Sunday newspapers that were circulating. They were called “gaudy
and dauby,” and “the most potent influence in our midst for the destruction of
the Lord’s Day as a day of rest and worship.”

By 1895, Sunday concerts and newspapers, bicycles and
electric trolleys led the New Hampshire Methodist Episcopal group to say “New
inventions have changed the methods by which the Sabbath is made a day of
recreation.”For many workers who had
few days off, Sunday offered a major opportunity to enjoy these new
pleasures.

There were other ways to get around the social pressures to
observe the Sabbath.Since walking for
pleasure on Sunday was frowned upon in some small communities, walks to the local
cemetery were considered proper.In
Peacham, “there was much study of inscriptions on old stones by the young
people.”

Since ice cream shops were shuttered on Sunday and pharmacies were
open, the new pharmacy soda fountain ice cream concoction became known as a “sundae.”

Some believed that laws prohibiting activities on Sunday
that would be legal any other day of the week were a good example of “societies
engaged in the business of killing pleasure.”Others, such as the New England Sabbath Protection League, charged that
violations of these laws just “benefit a few financially, create loafing places
that will encourage drinking and gambling, influence the youth and fill the
coffers of foreigners in fruit and tobacco stores.”

Bradford historian Harold Haskins recalled the prohibition
on children’s outdoor games on Sunday.In 1907, a group of Bradford farm youth was playing baseball in a rather
remote field.“The town authorities
stopped the playing.”

In the 1920’s it was
still illegal to open most businesses, hold a dance, engage in many sports or
games or “resort to a house of entertainment for amusement or recreation” on a
Vermont Sunday.

By the early 1930’s these prohibitions were being seriously
questioned.

A series of bills were
considered by the Vermont Legislature that would allow towns to set their own
standards for Sunday activities.Bellows
Falls was the center of this controversy after 28 business men were arrested
for “violating the sanctity of the Sabbath.”The legislation would give local town meetings the authority to allow
such Sunday activities as the operation of golf courses, gas stations and
motion picture theaters, “providing they do not create a nuisance.”

Many small towns opposed these changes in the law.A tongue-in-cheek article appeared in the United Opinion under the title “Peaceful
Newbury.”That town was described as “a
non-Sabbath breaking community where no ‘Blue Law’ need be enforced.Our postmistress would sooner vote the
Democratic ticket than sell on the Sabbath a Sunday paper; our farmers black
and polish their shoes on Saturday night, and for fear of getting off that
polish do not wear them to church on the day following. Newbury is a model
town, and not like Bellows Falls a little bit.”

In 1940 a United Opinion
headline announced that plans to have Sunday night movies in Bradford had been
cancelled in the face of complaints that they would “interfere with the Sunday
evening Church Services.” The article continued “So you movie fans will have to
continue to go to Woodsville, Barre or White River Junction instead of staying
home and seeing the show here.”

In 1947, Vermont exempted winter sports, tennis and golf
from its statute and allowed other Sunday sports at which no admission was
charged. That year locals began voting at town meeting on Sunday activities. In
Fairlee, Newbury and Bradford, voters approved by wide margins Sunday baseball,
movies and lectures. In Bradford, Sunday basketball games were approved by a
vote of 206 to 93 but denied jalopy racing in 1952. This annual voting
continued until the late 1960s.

The Sunday sale of alcohol was still limited in Vermont and
New Hampshire. One could only buy a drink in a Vermont
restaurant if a meal was also purchased. When I cooked at the Kettledrum Restaurant
in 1958 we would make scores of club sandwiches, the least expensive meal on
the menu. Many went uneaten.

It was still expected that Sunday morning was reserved for
church attendance. Pews and Sunday
Schools were full. Although there might
be players on the golf courses or workers in the fields, no school or club
would schedule an activity before early afternoon on Sunday.This was a tacit understanding by most,
including those who did not attend church. But Sunday as a sacred day was under
attack.

In 1961 the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a landmark ruling
in a case involving blue laws in Maryland.It concluded these laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution, but
rather provided a uniform day of rest to all citizens in a secular basis and
promoted secular values. This set the stage for several state court decisions
in both Vermont and New Hampshire.

In 1968 an unsuccessful attempt was made to pass a “one day
of rest in seven” bill in the Vermont Legislature.Its intent was to “replace widely scattered
Sunday closing laws” and remove the laws from religious consideration.

Several Vermont Supreme Court cases in the 1970s affirmed
Vermont’s Sunday retail sales laws, allowing small stores to open, but required
larger grocery stores to close. By 1981 New Hampshire had changed its Sunday
retail sales regulations.The Journal Opinion criticized this discrepancy,
suggesting that Vermonters could go for a Sunday drive, “but if they need a
loaf of bread that they can’t get in Vermont because supermarkets are closed,
they’ll drive across the Connecticut River and get it in New Hampshire.”

By 1982 the Vermont Legislature had added a number of
allowed Sunday activities to the law. That year the Vermont Supreme Court
struck down retail blue laws because of discriminatoryenforcement, failure to provide equal
protection and problems with due process. That signaled the end of general
Sunday closing laws in Vermont. In 1983 the state repealed the “Common Day of
Rest” provisions in the law.

“Not on Sunday” is an idea that is passé. While many local professional
offices and some retailers are closed on Sundays, many businesses are eager to
sell. attracting customers eager to buy. Recent polls indicate that church attendance
in Vermont and New Hampshire is the lowest in the nation. As one observer
concluded “Even the descendants of Puritans no longer want the Puritan Sunday.The Puritan Sunday is no fun.”

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About Me

I am the President of the Bradford Historical Society. I retired after teaching social studies in Bradford for 42 years, beginning at Bradford Academy in 1964 and finishing at Oxbow High School in June 2006. Throughout my teaching career I emphasized local history as a bridge to understanding United States history. This column has been a major activity of my retirement and I thank those who helped me research the topics and edit the writings. The towns covered include Thetford to Ryegate in Vermont and Lyme to Haverhill in New Hampshire. I have sold out of my first book IN TIMES PAST: ESSAYS FROM THE UPPER VALLEY, which raised $5300 for the Bradford Public Library. Book Two is now available by mail for $20, check payable to the Bradford Public Library, sent to Larry Coffin, PO Box 490, Bradford,VT 05033 or purchased at local outlets.